Wet ground, Fast greens

I played a round yesterday and totally wasted around 10 shots around the greens. Im usually pretty good with my short game but the ground was hard packed with very short grass and muddy underneath the surface so when you try to hit a simple pitch shot you either chunk it or blade it. And to add to the problem the greens were super fast. So how do I hit short shots on damp ground and get the ball to slow down on the green. Its a very delicate shot.

Chips - I'm not inclined to use my wedges when the lie is poor. If I had no choice then I take the club back close to the ground. This eliminates the bounce.

Pin position. If there was plenty of green to work with could you have used another club say 7, 8 or 9 iron? Just enough club to get it over the gunk. Or if there wasn't much gunk to get over, perhaps the putter.

Soft hands for the ball to roll further after landing. Hard hands for the ball to check quickly after landing.

Any club over a PW would be very risky, most of the short shots on this course were to elevated greens. So you have delicate short shots that have to land softly on very fast greens 3+ feet above your feet. I practiced this shot and found that if I used more wrist I could pop the ball up and it will land softly, even though ive been taught using wrist on short shots is wrong. I dont know.....any advice will help.

I thought I would share this:

This weekend I played a par three, around 140 yards. The tee is on the edge of a lake and the green starts right on the other side (No room for short shots here).

as it was a little windy I used my 8 iron and struck it higher than I wanted, the wind gusted up and pulled it right where it landed in an uncut patch of rough that was mostly loose wet mud. After plugging it popped out with a great lump of mud stuck to one side.

The approach was now from this bog, over a deep narrow bunker onto a raised green that sloped steeply right to left. Pin around 40 ft away. I took a lob with my SW that popped up, landed 6 inches in front the pin, popped up and struck the pin, bounced back around 4 inches, then wobbled with its lump of mud into the hole for two.

Sometimes it seems the ball has a self determination to get in the hole, unfortunately not often enough though.

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Best Regards
Brian

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Funny o'l game!

Nice shot Brian, one for the "Golfing Glory" thread there for sure......

cmays posted a link to a Titleist tips from the tour page and Ernie Els gives a tip that relates here...

You should feel like you are trying to "slide" the clubface under the ball.

It is obviously a difficult shot with less than its share of margin for error, but again, risk v reward...

If you are playing confidently, why not have a crack...

Good luck...

Cheers